• EPA: Abrupt labor market slowdown: the rate of job creation is three times lower than a year ago

The Principality of Asturias is destroying employment. In fact, it already did it in 2018 and will do it again in 2019, as BBVA Research collects in its Regional Observatory. "The EPA tells us that despite growing 2.3% in 2018, Asturias has already destroyed employment last year and this year it will also do so ," explains Pep Ruiz, of the entity's aforementioned study service, who It also points out that the destruction in the third quarter of this year has exceeded even 2% in year-on-year terms, and that in the year they expect a 1.6% decline.

Very relevant figures that contrast and are more easily understandable when compared to the evolution of employment in Spain as a whole: it registered a 2.7% rebound in 2018 - a very positive year for the labor market; and in the current year it will still be able to pick up 2.2%, according to BBVA Research estimates. Or, there is even a simpler way to illustrate the alarming situation that is occurring in Asturias: it is the only community that is destroying jobs in the whole of a year and, of course, no other will do so for two consecutive exercises .

It is, therefore, the best and most extreme example of the alarming cooling that the labor market is suffering in Spain. " In Cantabria and Galicia there have also been some negative quarters but not as in Asturias, " Ruiz emphasizes. However, from BBVA Research they also emphasize that what is being observed in the region "is not entirely normal", that "internal adjustments in companies" may be taking place to face possible falls in demand, and that neither should be understand as the prelude to what will happen in the whole country in the medium term.

" We understand that the economy will still be able to continue creating employment, " says Ruiz. According to the forecasts contained in the aforementioned Observatory that was published yesterday, the estimate is that in 2020 employment will grow by a moderate 1.4%, and that year Asturias will re-create jobs. Few, yes, since the estimate is 0.4%. In addition, in Galicia the rebound will be 0.5%, while in Aragon and the Balearic Islands the advance will be 0.8% and in the whole of Spain it will only amount to 1.4%.

This slower rate of job creation will be accompanied - or caused - by an economic slowdown already announced and recognized even by the Government, but which the study center details by regions. And in that exercise it is found that in 2019 a good number of communities will register a growth of less than 2%, and that in 2020 the only region that will be above that figure will be the Community of Madrid.

Moreover, the Canary Islands will only advance 1.1% in 2020 ; Balearic Islands can only grow 1.2%; the aforementioned Principality of Asturias will remain at 1.3%; and the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia will reach 1.4%. Catalonia, the great economic engine of Spain with Madrid, will remain at 1.8% this year, which would mean being below the 1.9% expected for the whole country, and would match the national average in 2020 with a 1.6%

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Asturias
  • Spain
  • Unemployment

Labor150,000 temporary teachers to the rescue of Sánchez in the latest unemployment data before 10-N

Economy Businesses slow down job creation: reduce hiring to a quarter in a year

InterviewRaúl Arza: "Almost 11,000 Basque workers have to supplement their salary with the RGI"